This qualitative study details four elementary/middle school-level teachers' perceptions of external factors which tended to support or interfere with their initial efforts to implement a process writing approach. These factors included the building administrators, other teachers, state and local mandates, and student response to the innovation.…

Contrasts a recent collection of "best" student essays with a report reviewing a 1929 test in English that was used for making college admissions decisions. Concludes that writing teachers have been as much or more interested in who they want their students to be as in what they want their students to write. (RS)

Studies the effects of word processing on the composing processes of six basic writers. Concludes that quantity and quality of revisions are not likely to increase, that word processing initially causes many interventions in composing, and that better writers are more likely to use word processing programs in advantageous ways. (RS)

Describes the mechanics of workshops designed to introduce new ideas about teaching with writing to instructors in all subject areas. Focuses on: leader qualities; workshop content; and logistics (setting, size, time, and equipment). (MM)

Describes the Self-Directed Process Approach (SDPA) to teaching writing, specifically in regard to teaching Technical Report Writing to a class of 114 engineering students in the National Diploma course in Nigeria. SPDA teaches students to be their own educators and to be responsible for their own improvement; hence it is especially suitable for…

When teaching writing, most high school English teachers encourage students to express their feelings. The paper discusses the evolution of process writing, which is a belief that writing is a process of discovery and not a product. The paper questions process writing, suggesting it adversely affects clarity, structure, and thought. (SM)

Shows that the inconsistencies in implementation of process strategies for reading and writing instruction by a first grade teacher participating in a three-year staff development program are a result of the lack of four components in the program: feedback, planning time, focus on one innovation, and consensus on school goals. (SR)

Reviews two areas of cross-cultural research (sociolinguistic research on oral interaction and the applied linguistic research area of contrastive rhetoric). Makes recommendations for using collaborative peer response groups successfully with multicultural classes. (MG)

Explores literature on educational change and examines two literacy innovations gone "bad": process writing and literature-based reading. Argues that growth occurs from the interaction of "bad" things with good ideas (which are never perfect ideas), thereby reshaping, reforming, and strengthening them. Examines how this affects educational policy,…

Reports on a survey conducted on TESL-L aimed at discovering whether English-as-a-Second-Language teachers have similar concepts of the process approach to writing or whether the concept has now evolved in different ways in different places. Survey results show teachers actually have strongly differing ideas as to what process writing is.…

Background: In most primary schools in Hong Kong, a product-oriented approach is used in teaching writing. The process approach to writing has been seen as an improvement over the traditional methods of writing instruction in recent years. However, the effectiveness of using the process approach to teach writing is still inconclusive. It is…

This handbook contains over 265 reproducible writing process activities that help make writing fun for students in grades 4-8. The handbook provides stimulating activities to give students the directed practice they need to learn to write clearly and competently. Designed for minimal teacher input, activities are complete with directions geared to…

Designed to provide teachers with ideas and resources that make it possible to nourish and build upon the skills of young writers, this guide deals with effective writing instruction within the elementary school and using the writing process with primary children. The guide addresses issues related to, and provides suggestions for, the teaching of…

Delineating the content that must be covered in the elementary schools of the State of Idaho, this guide presents a course of study for instruction in integrated language arts, K-8. Although educators sometimes use the terms interchangeably, the course of study in the guide is not an instructional or curriculum guide--the course of study…

Noting that revising is the hardest part of the writing process for children, this book offers practical strategies to effectively motivate students and to help them build the skills to revise their own work. The book suggests that children in grades 2 and above can handle revision if they are taught the skills that enable them to do it and if…